We expect thousands to die in Tripoli in next 24 hours, says Libyan diplomat

Cameron warns Gaddafi: 'The world is watching you'

Britain sends second warship to rescue stranded Brits

United States to impose unilateral sanctions on Libya

Gaddafi's son hints at ceasefire

Colonel Gaddafi mounted a dramatic last stand in Tripoli, as his forces again opened fire on protesters in the Libyan capital.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Libya yesterday in defiance of a 'shoot-on-sight' order issued by Gaddafi as he desperately tried to quell the rebellion.

As gunfire could again be heard echoing across the suburbs of the oil-rich nation's capital, there were frantic calls for action from the international community.

UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon said it was time for world powers to take action, while a Libyan diplomat warned that he expected thousands to die in the next 24 hours.

The conflict appeared to be entering another deadly phase, as Colonel Gaddafi issued a battle cry before thousands of wildly cheering loyalists telling them: 'Prepare to defend Libya.'

Gaddafi appeared in Green Square and told his supporters to 'prepare to defend Libya'

'Fight for dignity': Supporters of Gaddafi cheer as he addresses them from the old city ramparts looking over Tripoli's Green Square

However, fresh from a late night phone
call with Barack Obama in which he refused to rule out military
intervention, David Cameron warned him: 'The world is watching you.'

Flanked by a phalanx of bodyguards, Gaddafi waved at supporters and kissed the air before saying he would 'when necessary' open Libya's arsenal to any tribes who will back him.

Wearing a fur cap and sunglasses, was speaking from the ramparts of the Red Castle, a historic fort, overlooking Tripoli's Green Square, where over 1,000 of his supporters were massed tonight, waving pictures of him and green flags.

Gaddafi, pumping his fist in the air, told the crowd to 'retaliate against them, retaliate against them' and 'prepare to defend the nation and defend the oil'.

He said: 'We can crush any enemy. We can crush it with the people's will. The people are armed and when necessary, we will open arsenals to arm all the Libyan people and all Libyan tribes.'

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'Get ready to fight for Libya! Get ready to fight for dignity! Get ready to fight for petroleum! .... Respond to them, put them to shame.'

'Muammar Gaddafi is among you. I stand among the people and we will fight and we will kill them if they want ... Look at the people's force. This is the people's force that cannot be defeated.

We won't give up: Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Libya in defiance of a 'shoot-on-sight' order issued by Gaddafi as he desperately tried to quell the rebellion

But there were signs that not all his supporters were with him, as the dictator's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi suggested he would seek a ceasefire in the Western cities of Zawiyah and Misrata. 'The army decided not to attack the terrorists, and to give a chance to negotiation. Hopefully we will do it peacefully and will do so by tomorrow,' he said.

Earlier, chanting protesters had streamed out of
mosques near downtown Tripoli's Green Square and other districts after
prayers, to be confronted by heavily-armed troops and mercenaries -
from neighbouring African countries - who opened fire, according to
witnesses.

There were even reports of snipers hiding on rooftops and firing down into crowds of marchers in the square below.

Earlier
reports suggested five protesters had been killed, but that number
might just be three protesters killed in the Souq al-Jomaa area near the
square. Another reported a fourth death in another district, Fashloum.
The reports could not be immediately confirmed.

Mourning: Libyans carry the bodies of three more victims of the violence in Benghazi

Death toll rising: Libyan clerics look at the dead body of a protester who was killed last week during protest in Benghazi

£60K 'BRIBES' FOR PLANES TO RESCUE BRITONS

Colonel Gaddafi’s regime forced the Government to pay £60,000 in 'bribes' to fly in and rescue stranded Britons caught up in the Libyan civil war.

Officials handed over about £12,000 for each of the five planes that landed at Tripoli airport to save hundreds of Britons left for days without help.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'The charges have increased in the current situation. We have had to pay them, the alternative being to leave hundreds of British nationals stranded in Tripoli.”

However, he insisted that paying charges levied by authorities at a foreign airport “is not bribery”. A senior Foreign Office source said the payments of £12,000 a plane were “four or five times higher than usual'.

'There are all kind of bullets,' said
one protester near the Souq al-Jomaa with the rattle of shots audible in the
background.

'The situation
is chaotic in parts of Tripoli now,' said another witness, who was among
marchers in adjacent Algeria Square and said he saw militiamen firing
in the air.

Armed
Gaddafi supporters were also speeding through some streets in vehicles,
he said. Residents hiding in their homes also reported the sound of
gunfire in other parts of the capital.

Diplomatic efforts to subdue fighting stepped up at the UN, as Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged diplomats to act quickly on imposing a package of sanctions.

He said: 'It is time for the Security Council to consider concrete action. The hours and the days ahead will be decisive for Libyans.'

Libya's deputy UN ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, who denounced Libyan leader Gaddafi earlier this week,said that he expects the death toll to rise.

'This [Gaddafi] is a madman and he is psychologically not stable. He will stay until the moment he is either (killed) or he will commit suicide,' he said

'We expect thousands to be killed today in Tripoli.'

The United States also announced today
that it would impose sanctions on Libya and push for the country to be
suspended from the UN. It has also pulled out its embassy staff.

David Cameron said Britain would deploy troops if necessary to safeguard its citizens still trapped in Libya and promised that if any harm befalls them Gaddafi will be punished.

The Prime Minister spoke after a
two-hour meeting of senior ministers with intelligence and military
chiefs at No 10 where they agreed plans to evacuate scores of Britons
still in Libya, including isolated oil workers.

Mr
Cameron said Britain is pushing through the UN for asset seizures,
travel bans and other sanctions and raised the prospect of 'crimes
against humanity' being investigated. He warned: “No one is beyond the
reach of international law.'

He stressed that the full might of the Government was being
directed to the crisis, after several days when efforts were criticised
for being too slow. 'We are acting, and we are doing everything we can,'
he said.

Sources said any military interventions
would be only to protect British citizens and not to topple the regime
or threaten Gaddafi’s forces. Plans were agreed today for a final
evacuation plan, which sources said was likely to include international
convoys through the desert regions to the borders.

Cameron issued the stark warning a day after an
emergency telephone summit with Barack Obama,
to thrash out action plans to deal with the chaos caused by the
uprising, where both expressed 'deep concern' over the violence.

Suspected African mercenaries stand in a room within a courthouse as they are held by anti-government protesters in Benghazi

Among the options under discussion
was a no-fly zone over the oil-rich nation to prevent Gaddafi's air
force attacking his own people.

The desperate tyrant even appeared on
state television offering bribes of £300 to families and promising a
150 per cent wage increase to workers who stay loyal to him.

It comes after Switzerland announced today that it will freeze any assets Gaddafi may have
in its banks.

Thousands of
expats from around the world are scrambling to flee the country, with
many already aboard ships and planes taking them to safety.

'The world is watching you': David Cameron issued a stark warning to Gaddafi as Nick Clegg attended a meeting of the National Security Council today after being called back from his skiing holiday

Hundreds of Chinese nationals wait for Greek vessels chartered by the Chinese government at Benghazi port. There were around 30,000 Chinese in the country before the crisis hit

It is thought there are still around 200 Britons still stranded within Libya, mainly deep in the desert. The SAS are believed to nave been put on standby in case all other measures to rescue Brits fails.

But fears are growing for the remaining expats's safety as the country falls further into chaos, with large scale looting and violence said to be spreading.

There was some good news amid the strife as Welsh father-of-three Richard Foscolo was reported to have back to the UK

But there was some good news amid the strife as Welsh father-of-three Richard Foscolo was reported to have returned back to the UK.

Mr Foscolo had been working in an oil field in Ghani, around nine hours' drive from Tripoli, when trouble in the African country broke out.

The 39-year-old, of Barry, south Wales, spoke of the uncertainty he felt while in Ghani as communication networks broke down and looting became rife.

He said: 'On the one hand there was a benefit of being in an isolated location and away from the troubles and the action, but then the isolation in itself brought its own threats and the danger that we could be forgotten about and that supplies could run short.

'Naturally I am delighted and relieved to be home with the family, though I am exhausted and feel as though we need some space.

British
naval ship HMS Cumberland, which sailed from Benghazi on Thursday
afternoon for Malta, carried 207 evacuees, including 68 Britons.

The
trip usually takes at least 15 hours but was expected to take hours
longer because of rough seas. Prime Minister David Cameron said a second
warship - HMS York - was being sent to waters close to Libya to help
with rescue missions.

PRIVATE AIRLIFT FOR OIL WORKERS

Oil bosses today sent their own commercial airplanes to rescue 1,000 expatriate workers trapped in Libya.

About 170 Britons and hundreds of other workers were to be evacuated from the desert by the private airlift.

In all about 10,000 oil company employees are still stuck in desert compounds.

They face attacks from looters and militias as Libya threatens to tip into civil war.

Company bosses said more than 1,000 workers could leave today as the planes fly into desert landing strips.

Dozens more British nationals returned to the UK today for emotional reunions with their families. Construction worker Joon-Mo Park, originally from Harrow, north London, said that it was 'a huge relief' to be home after initially being thrown out of Tripoli airport by security services because of the swelling numbers of passengers desperate to leave.

But as hundreds of thousands of foreigners escaped aboard boats and planes to their homelands, many still remained, desperate to flee the increasing violence, including around as many as 15,000 Chinese.

But thousands of Chinese workers hoping to be evacuated from the chaos are still stranded by rough sea.

The call for regime opponents march from mosques after prayers was the first attempt to hold a major anti-Gaddafi rally in the capital since militiamen launched a bloody crackdown on marchers early in the week that left dozens dead.

SMS messages were sent around urging, 'Let us make this Friday the Friday of liberation,' residents said. The residents and witnesses all spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Gaddafi loyalists have clamped down hard in Tripoli, the center of the eroding territory that the Libyan leader's regime still controls. The uprising that began Feb. 15 has swept over nearly the entire eastern half of the country, breaking cities there out of his regime's hold.

Even in the pocket of northwestern Libya around Tripoli, several cities have also fallen into the hands of the rebellion. Militiamen and Gaddafi forces on Thursday were repelled in trying to take back opposition-held territory in the cities of Zawiya and Misrata, near the capital, in fighting that killed at least 30 people.

Starting Friday morning in Tripoli, pro-Gaddafi militiamen set up heavy security around many mosques in the city, trying to prevent any opposition gatherings. Armed young men with green armbands to show their support of Gaddafi set up checkpoints on many streets, stopping cars and searching them. Tanks and checkpoints lined the road to Tripoli's airport, witnesses said.

Signaling continued defiance, Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, vowed his family will 'live and die in Libya,' according an excerpt from an interview to be aired later Friday on CNNTurk.

Asked about alternatives in the face of growing unrest, Gaddafi said: 'Plan A is to live and die in Libya, Plan B is to live and die in Libya, Plan C is to live and die in Libya.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll in Libya at nearly 300, according to a partial count. Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed were 'credible.'